Healthcare is a key sector for the volumetric modular sector being able to provide excellent new facilities quickly. Work is now underway at a much-needed new hospital in Berwick-upon-Tweed.
The long awaited, new £35million Berwick Hospital is being built one year quicker compared to traditional methods of construction by using offsite proprietary integrated platform technology. Leading industrialised construction and manufacturing specialist Merit, based in Northumberland, has work well underway on the new hospital at its offsite manufacturing factory in Cramlington.
The Merit approach also offers a zero carbon emissions-design, class leading lower energy consumption, enhanced infection control and is technically enabled for the future of healthcare.
The factory recently played host to a visit from Berwick's MP, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, and nearby Blyth Valley MP, Ian Levy, enabling them to see for themselves the construction of Berwick hospital. They were able to view the start of the build of the 800+ pre-assembled modules (PAMs) and 17 UltraPODs® that will be delivered to site to form part of the state-of-theart building. The parliamentarians also received a demonstration of Merit's factory robot, just one of the Industry 4.0 initiatives in progress along with computer numerical control (CNC) technology, automation and digitalisation.
"We are delighted to be working closely with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Northumbria Healthcare Facilities Management (NHFM) to build the new Berwick hospital which will be completed by late 2024," said Tony Wells, CEO at Merit. "It was great to welcome Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP and Ian Levy MP to our factory to show them the work being done on the region's newest hospital and to explain how different manufacturing processes are being used to improve productivity. We believe that on a larger scale, this solution will bring affordability to the NHS with hospitals being built significantly faster with cost certainty."
Rt Hon Anne- Marie Trevelyan, MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed added: "It's really exciting to see the work being done on Berwick's new hospital and it's amazing that this area of the country will be the first to benefit from this modern solution to healthcare."
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest trusts in the country geographically, providing services to more than 500,000 people across Northumberland and North Tyneside. Our staff provide care in hospitals, in the community and in people's own homes.
Marion Dickson, Northumbria Healthcare's Executive Director for Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals and Project Lead said: "We're very impressed with Merit's offsite manufacturing capabilities which can fortunately bypass any bad weather and provide quicker solutions to the build of our new hospital.
"Our new hospital will not only provide high quality healthcare well into the future but will also provide a much-improved environment for our staff and patients, enable additional services to be provided and support staff recruitment and retention. It will be something that Berwick, Northumberland, and the North East, can be very proud of."
Headquartered in Northumberland, Merit Health is the dedicated healthcare and life sciences division of leading industrialised construction and manufacturing specialist, Merit and employs more than 300 people in the UK and owns further facilities in London and Scotland.
For more information visit: www.merit.co.uk
Images: 01. The new Berwick hospital is being built one year quicker compared to traditional methods of construction 02. Marion Dickson (left) pictured with Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, Merit's chair Kirsty Wells, Merit's CEO Tony Wells, and Ian Levy MP, inside Merit's Cramlington factory
